Why is geology important? | Munipalli akshay paul |

The Importance of Geology in Everyday Life; and the Lack of Geological Awareness Facing Society Today

Throughout most of modern education geology tends to be underrepresented in favor of other science topics such as Chemistry, Physics, Biology or Computer Science. Throughout grade school I was limited to minute topics in geology such as the earth's cycles (i.e. rock cycle, water cycle) and basic rock classification (sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous). I had not had the opportunity to take a geology focused course until High School and even then geology was just a short unit in the Earth and Space Science course, furthermore to take this course was a significant risk with college admissions as it was not an AP course such as the other sciences aforementioned. Schools in our current age do much to market "STEM" jobs, albeit mainly Engineering and Computer Science, with less emphasis on Technology, Science and Mathematics. If it wasn't for my own intuition and research I would've never had the opportunity to explore a career in geological sciences.

Contrary to popular belief, geology has the highest job security and highest wages of any natural science overall. Geology is important in everyday life and it is easy to see how virtually everything we see, touch, consume and interact with is related to geology in some way or another in that everything on Earth, came from the Earth. Whether you consider the Oil and Natural Gas that fuel our growing hunger for energy and manufacturing, Mining for structural metals for infrastructure or precious metals for use in high-tech devices.

Geology is important for our global food supply through identifying ideal growing areas and conditions as well as monitoring soil quality, geology's impact is commonly forgotten in the areas of construction and infrastructure whether in consideration of concrete and masonry for roads or the gypsum that drywall is made of. Regardless of your interests in the world it is some way or another related to geology.

In fact at it's core geology is Physics, Chemistry, Math, Biology, and Engineering all wrapped up together. Rather than just focusing on one area or another of science, geologists use principles from all of them to gain a greater understanding of earth systems and processes that affect our everyday lives as well as the future of the generations to come.

In college an Introduction to Geology course is taken by one of two kinds of people:

1. Geology majors
2. People who need a Natural Science credit, but deem Physics, Chemistry or Biology to be above their academic level

But geology is important to everyone whether you're a Geology major, an Engineer, a Philosophy and English double major, or a Dance major. In my current Introduction to Geology course, my professor Dr. Lon Abbott does a great job at this. In fact he stated it as one of his major goals for the semester and at the end of each unit he goes through a short debriefing of "Okay, I learned about the different types of volcanoes, but why is this important to me". Dr. Abbott explains to the class the importance of various topics from minerals to Natural disasters. As an educator he has given us basic knowledge such as that of flood plains and earthquake activity so that when we as young adults find housing we can be well-informed on where are the safest places to settle.

Another one of Lon's pieces of advice is to become educated on geologic phenomena that relate to politics, one point particularly prevalent in Colorado and the South is Fracking and Injection wells, by gaining a greater understanding of the geologic processes, risks and potential rewards involved with fracking we can make educated decisions by voting, based on the knowledge we have.

Unfortunately in many places across the world where education is inaccessible or even non-existent, geologic factors can have a big role in a nations existence. For example in Turkey, where there is reason to believe a large magnitude earthquake could happen at any moment, contractors and government officials have not been well-informed of the tectonic hazards that lurk beneath their cities. Particularly in Istanbul, the country's economic,

cultural and historic hub as well as the most populous city totaling around 14 million residents, building codes have not been modified to account of tectonic events such as earthquakes, buildings are not earthquake resistant and many structures lack basic rebar-reinforced concrete. The implications of a large earthquake without the adequate infrastructure to sustain such and even would be absolutely catastrophic.

In summation everything is somehow related to geology. And geology is important in securing our worlds demand for energy, building infrastructure, advancing science and technology, sustaining the global food supply, predicting and reacting to natural disasters and everything in between. Regardless of your major an education albeit a basic one in geology is critical to both your future and your survival.

Geologists have a saying: If it can’t be grown, it must be mined. That is, it must come from the ground. That includes petroleum. Virtually all non-food items come out of the ground. Without the metals (iron, copper, aluminum), petroleum (gas, oil), coal, and industrial minerals (sand and gravel, salt, phosphate for fertilizer) our economies would be nonexistent. 150 years ago many of these ‘natural resources’ were exposed at the surface, even oil. Those days are long gone . Minerals geologist are trained to explore and locate these resources, as well a define how individual deposits of minerals (including oil and gas) are contained in the rocks. These disciplines require what is arguably the most rounded training in science. Geologists are trained, in addition to many areas of geology, in chemistry, physics, math, biology/paleontology, field mapping, oceanography, atmospheric science, hydrology, 3-D computer modeling, etc. Within the geologic sciences, petrology, mineralogy, stratigraphy/sedimentology, volcanology, structural geology, geophysics, mineral deposits, petroleum geology, engineering geology, and specialties within these. Professional geologists with few exceptions require an masters and, within the oil industry, a doctorate. No economy can survive without minerals. In developing countries, geologists are critical to advancing their economies.